Miya Yoshida, curator of the exhibition "Amateurism" at Heidelberger Kunstverein (2012) on "Vasen"

found ceramic objects, casts in bronze, aluminium, plaster, silicon, wax 800 x 50 x 38 cm

In this series, Heike Bolligs exploration began with some objects that she found at a flea market – a pink ceramic vase with glittery glaze and a sky-blue ceramic pot with smoky matt finish. Although these objects were clearly made by laymen, Bollig adores the unpretentious simplicity and regards them more as ‘labour of love’ than as a product of advanced skills, techniques, or well-known names. Fascinated by the aesthetic of ‘handmade’, Bollig reproduced them by tracing the shapes, moulding and casting them, and using aluminium and precious bronze in place of the original clay material. However, guided by wonder and curiosity, her playful exploration gradually transcends the process of reproduction to then shape, to mould a mould inside out, cast the mould outside in, and to supplement and alter the colours and the textures. The modified process resulted in the production of eleven enigmatic objects, accompanied by reproductions of the originals, which were then all presented together without any hierarchical order as a mixed media installation in the group exhibition, Amateurism at the Heidelberger Kunstverein, 2012. For the artist, process is more than just a process.

May 2020